


And All These Feelings

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Series: Empath Rhodians [1]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Aliens are alien, Canon Gay Relationship, Empathy, Episode: s01e03 Nightvisiting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 15:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8452186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: Now with the actual first half of the writing!When Charlie came to Earth, he didn't realise that humans couldn't tell what each other felt. When he realised, he knew that he had to hide it. It was alien, and humans liked their privacy.But around Matteusz, it's hard to hide.





	

**Author's Note:**

> When I first posted this, I only posted the second half! Oops.

It took Charlie a few days on Earth to realise that humans didn’t feel empathy like Rhodians did. They claimed to, but clearly it wasn’t the same. They didn’t brush past people in the street and get flashes of emotion, they couldn’t sense the feelings of those around them as easily as blinking or breathing. They didn’t, they just didn’t, and it was endlessly confusing. How could they not tell how other people felt at all times just by trying? Their emotions were so loud, so potent that even Quill could feel them with her typical lack of empathetic sensors. She hated it, and just about everything else involving Earth, but she could still feel it.

Charlie tried to keep this ability fairly hidden once he realised that it wasn’t something humans shared, but it got hard at times. When people were upset, or scared, or overly emotional in general- and around Matteusz perhaps most of all. It was normal to feel the emotions of people you were close to more, especially if you often initiated physical contact with them, but he’d never really been close to someone both physically and emotionally in the way he had with Matteusz.

Kissing him for the first time had probably been the hardest. He’d been arguing with his parents, so there was anger that was so strong he almost started crying, but there was also pride, defiance, and there was happiness. There was a joy that nearly overwhelmed him. It was a joy that was utterly human in nature, but now that Charlie had felt it once, he couldn’t stop wanting more. Perhaps it was addictive, in a way, but Matteusz certainly didn’t seem to mind. He seemed to enjoy it just as much as Charlie, even if he didn’t feel the same connection.

He wished he could be more open about the less human aspects of himself (there were more than he initially thought, even), but the others seemed to get uncomfortable enough when he didn’t understand some obscure pop culture reference. Even truly strange things that were fundamental to their childhood experience seemed to be things he was supposed to know, yet he’d never experienced a childhood like theirs. Human childhood seemed distinctly odd- maybe it wasn’t, though…Charlie hadn’t had a typical childhood even for a Rhodian, what with being the prince. He’d just been ferried around between dull royal meetings, forced to keep his real feelings in check so that no one else would notice them. Here, they had acting, and it seemed so flat to him. He could tell that they didn’t feel the emotions that they pretended to have, and it ruined it all for him. In real acting, the actors projected the correct emotions for their part. Here, all the actors were tired or nervous or barely even concentrating.

He thought it would just be a matter of time before someone twigged that he could feel their emotions (though he couldn’t feel their sarcasm, which was difficult), but no one could tell.

The night after the Lankin attacked, the first night that Matteusz was sleeping in the same bed as him, Charlie figured he should probably talk about his little ability. There was what felt like an open wound in his boyfriend’s emotions at the moment- so much hurt and hate and self-loathing, and he badly wanted to find a way to fix it all.

“You’re really upset,” he said quietly, long after Matteusz started pretending to be asleep. His hands shifted against Charlie’s back once he spoke, betraying that he was still awake. “How can I help you? I don’t want you to hurt.”

Matteusz didn’t open his eyes at first, just lay there, as if he was thinking. “It is fine,” he said eventually. “I don’t need help…you should be asleep.” Charlie wanted to point out that if he should be asleep, then Matteusz definitely should be as well, but somehow he didn’t think that would help.

“But you’re so angry at everything, and you...don’t you hate what your parents have done to you? I think it’s despicable.” He really did. There was not much he could imagine that would have been worse at home than his parents throwing him out of his home.

“How are you knowing I am angry?” Matteusz frowned, as if surprised that Charlie had been able to deduce this- Charlie supposed he had been doing quite a good job of acting calm, at least by human standards. Now seemed like a good time to come clean about his abilities.

"How are you knowing I am angry?" Matteusz frowned, as if surprised that Charlie had been able to deduce this- Charlie supposed he had been doing quite a good job of acting calm, at least by human standards. Now seemed like a good time to come clean about his abilities.

"I- I can tell?" He tried. There was something about it and he just couldn't tell the truth. He supposed he was afraid of Matteusz rejecting him, telling him that it made him a freak or impossible to be around.

"But how?" Matteusz frowned, and the negative feelings simmering inside him were undercut by a sudden curiosity, Charlie sensed. "Is it an alien thing?"

"I, um," his breathing was starting to get uneven. Why was he so anxious about this? Normally he was okay once he got home. Normally he was completely fine when he was with Matteusz. But this was different. "Yes." Matteusz was clearly even more curious now- not scared, or disgusted, just curious. That was good, Charlie supposed. Better than a negative reaction.

"I can sense feelings," he said quickly. He'd thought about it endlessly but he still didn't know how to describe it in a way that humans could make sense of. "It's like...I can feel them a little, it's a bit like heat?"

"This is why you are so happy when I kiss you?" Matteusz grinned. "You feel my happiness as well?" Charlie nodded. Apparently Matteusz wasn't in the least bit averse to this concept, and, to the contrary, seemed intrigued by it.

"I can feel your feelings, and when you kiss me everything explodes inside," he said. "Touch practically forms a link, so when we touch there..." He smiled at even the thought of it.

Matteusz leaned forwards and kissed him hard, and Charlie could tell he was pushing all his feelings of love forwards because they were almost overwhelming. Faced with such strong affection, he was left almost speechless, even when the kiss ended. His whole body felt a little numb, even. He'd never felt such intense emotions from a single person in his life. Matteusz was full of emotion, all humans were, but that was a conscious effort to make him feel all the love Matteusz felt for him. "You make me feel better," Matteusz said softly.

"D-do I?" Charlie was still a little stunned from that kiss, but he managed to find the sense to smile in his usual pleased way, the one he'd heard people say looked almost arrogant. But Matteusz liked that smile. Matteusz seemed to like everything about him.

"I have always hated my feelings for men," he said with a sigh. "My parents, they call me an abomination, they tell me I am...not their son if I am with you."

Charlie wished he could just take Matteusz far, far away from the pain his parents caused him. He knew that some day soon he'd have to go back home, if not permanently then at least to collect all of his belongings, but that wasn't a day that bore thinking about. "You don't have to be their son if it means hating yourself...there is nothing that I could ever hate about you."

"When I was thirteen, I smoke cigarettes," he said. Charlie just shook his head and squeezed Matteusz's hands. "I got arrested two years ago for hitting a man at the train station."

"You hit someone? Why?" Charlie tilted his head, curious, and then realised that he probably shouldn't get distracted from his point so easily. "Matteusz- I care about you as a person a lot more than I care about anything you might have done wrong in the past."

"I am not as good as you," he said, and Charlie could feel all the sadness behind that. He meant it, and he probably felt he wasn't good enough for him. For a moment, he couldn't think of a way to respond, so he leaned into Matteusz's chest. "I have to say, though... When you lean on me like that, I do not feel so bad." Matteusz draped his arms around Charlie, clinging as if his life depended on it. "A question..." Charlie looked up, curious when he saw his boyfriend blushing. "Were you feeling my emotions when we...had sex earlier?"

Charlie could feel his own face start to get flushed. He could feel the curiosity, the desire, everything. Mixed with that human feeling they didn't have a name for in Rhodia. Charlie was sure it was love. "Um...yes." He cleared this throat, trying to sound a little less embarrassed about it. There was nothing to be ashamed of. "It was very nice, really. You had so many strong feelings..."

Matteusz's face lit up with a smile instantly. "You could feel everything?" He asked. "So I cannot hide anything from you."

"You probably could if you tried really hard, but...effectively, no." Charlie looked down, a little sheepish. "Sorry. I mean, it's not like I can read your thoughts, you still have some privacy..."

"I do not mind," he said, and his hands drifted down to the lower half of Charlie's back. "Is nothing to hide from you."

Charlie didn't know what to say. He'd been hoping for grudging acceptance, maybe slight suspicion at best, but now here Matteusz was being so kind and accepting. Charlie reached up, pulling Matteusz down into a kiss. Maybe his boyfriend couldn't read emotions, but Charlie had a feeling he'd be able to guess exactly what was behind that kiss.


End file.
